Evaporator



NOV. 24

H. D. MILES EVAPORATOR Filed Jan. 28, 1924 wa 62m ltl lltl

Patented Nov. 24, 1925 UITED STATS HENRY D. MILES, 0F BUFFALO, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO BUFFALO FOUNDRY & MACHINE COMPANY, OF BUFFALO, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

EVAPORATOR.

Application filed January 28, 1924. Serial No. 688,906.

1 0 all whom if; m ag concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY D. MILEs, a

citizen of the United States, residing at.

Buffalo, in the county of Erie and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Evaporators, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to that type of evaporators in which the liquid to be treated is rapidly circulated through an externally heated uptake tube or pipe, an upper main exhaust chamber, a down-take or return tube, and a lower return chamber or manifold.

In cva nirators as heretofore constructed the up-take tube or tubes and the down-take tube were within the same casing and were secured at their lower ends to a flue sheet forming a wall of the return manifold or chamber while their upper ends were sooured to a line sheet on the exhaust chamber,

but the up-take tubes were surrounded by a steam ackct while the down-take tube was surrounded by an air jacket. During the operation of an apparatus thus constructed the unequal expansion and contraction of the up-takc and down-take tubes by reason of the diflerence in the temperature to which the same were exposed caused the joint between the lower end of the down-take tube and the lower line sheet to become loose and leaky. When a vacuum exists in the apparatus there is a constant inward pull through the joint between the down-take tube and the return manifold which does no particular harm but when this vacuum ceases and the interior of the appa atlas is subject to atmosphericpressure some of the liquid under treatment, for example milk or cider, will escape under pressure from the return manifold through the joint between the lat ter and the down-take tube and into the air jacket surrounding this tube where it is likely to deteriorate and become sour if the operation of the apparatus is arrested for a sutiicicnt length of time. When thereafter the operation of the apparatus is resumed this deteriorated liquid is drawn by the vacuum from the air chamber, through-the leaky joint betweenthe down-take tube and the return manifold and becomes mixed with the fresh liquid in the latter so that the entire batch is spoiled.

It is the object of this invention to prevent such undesirable results and with this end in View this invention consists generally in so connecting the lip-take and down-take tubes with the exhaust and return chambers so that the same are free to expand and contract lengthwise independently of each other and thus avoiding any strain on the joints between the same and said chambers and eliminating any leakage of materials into places where they may become rancid, sour or otherwise deteriorated and subsequently spoil good materials.

In the accompanying dra'wing's:

Figure l is a Vertical longiti'idinal sectional elevation of an evaporator containing my invention. Figure 2 is a cross section of the same taken on line 2-2, Figure 1. Figure 3 is a fragmentary longitudinal section, on an enlarged scale, of the down-take tube and slip-joint for slidingly connecting the same with the return chamber or manifold.

Similar characters of reference indicate like parts throughout the several views.

The numeral 10 represents the main or exhaust chamber of the apparatus which in the present instance is mounted on upright posts or legs ll and provided on its upper side with a vapor outlet 12 which is adapted to be coi'inected'with an air exhausting device of any suitable character for carrying away the vapors from the exhaust chamber and creating a vacuum therein.

lihe milk or other liquid which is to be condensed by evaporation passes from a lower or return chamber or manifold 13 up wardly through a heating conduit having one or more inclined uptake tubes or pipes 14 which communicate at their upper and lower ends with the exhaust and return chambers and are rigidly connected with upper and lower flue sheets 8 and 9 forming parts of the lower wall of the exhaust chamber 10 and the upper wall of the return chamber 13. As shown in the drawings a plurality of tubes are employed as the heating conduit and the fluid while passing through the same is heated for evaporating the liquid content therein by means of a heating agent which preferably consists of steam or the like introduced into a heating chamber or jacket forming with the flue sheets 8 and 9 a steam chest 16 surrounding the up-take tubes. As the fluid is heated in the up-take tubes the same is expelled from the upper ends of the same into the exhaust chambers wherein it strikes a bafile plate 17 and is deflected downwardly so that the vapors separate more readily therefrom. From the lower part of the exhaust chamber the fluid under treatment is conducted back to the lower part of the return chamber by a lower inclined return or down-take tube or pipe 18 which is arranged below the uptake tubes and communicates at its upper and lower ends with said exhaust and return chambers.

In order to obviate the objections to prior apparatus in-accordance with the present invention the down-take tube is so mounted on the exhaust and return chambers that the same can expand and contract lengthwise independently of the uptake tubes in response to variations of temperature without influencing the joints between the last mentioned tubes and the steam heating jacket which encloses the same. In the preferred construction this is accomplished by rigidly connecting the upper end of the down-take tube with the lower part of the exhaust chamber by means of bolts 19, as shown, or other suitable means, while the lower end of the down-take tube is connected with the lower end of the return chamber by a slip joint of any approved construction. Although this slip joint may be variously constructed that shown in the drawings is suitable and comprises a stufling box having a packing ring 20 which is secured to the return chamber and in which the lower end of the down-take tube is capable of sliding lengthwise freely, a packing 21 arranged in the pocket or box 22 of the packing ring, a circular gland 23 surrounding the down-take tube and engaging with the packing, and bolts 24 adjustably connectin the gland and the packing ring. By th1s means the down-take tube is free to expand and contract independently of the up-take tubes without one influencing the other when subjected to different temperatures while the fluid of higher temperature is passing upwardly through the uptake tubes and passing downwardly at a lower temperature through the down-take tube.

It follows from this construction that any variation in expansion of these tubes which occurs in actual practice will permit the same to operate entirely independently of each other without any liability of straining the joints between these tubes and the respective chambers, thereby avoiding leakage through these joints and preventing fouling of the apparatus and ruining any of the product. Due to this improvement the loss of materials is eliminated as well as undue cost of making repairs which were heretofore required, thereby cilecting a considerable economy in operation and also increas ing the output of the apparatus inasmuch as interruption in its use is minimized.

I claim as my invention:

1. An evaporator comprising an inclined steam chest having upper and lower stationary flue sheets, a plurality of inclined up-take tubes arranged within the steam chestand having their upper and lower ends rigidly secured in said flue sheets, an upper exhaust chamber-having its lower end rigidly connected with the upper end of said steam chest and communicating with said up-take tubes, a return chamber having its upper end rigidly secured to the lower end of said steam chest and communicating with the lower end of said up-take tubes, and an inclined return tube arranged below the steam chest and having one end rigidly connected with one of said chambers and slidably connected with the other chamber and communicating at its opposite ends with said exhaust and return chambers.

2. An evaporator comprising an inclined steam chest having upper and lower stationary flue sheets, a plurality of inclined up-take tubes arranged within the steam chest and having their upper and lower ends rigidly secured in said flue sheets, an upper exhaust chamber having its lower end rigidly connected with the upper end of said steam chest and communicating with said up-take tubes, a return chamber having its upper end rigidly secured to the lower end of said steam chest and communicating with the lower end of said up-takc tubes, an inclined return tube arranged below the steam chest and having its upper end rigidly con nected with said exhaust chamber and communicating therewith and its lower end slidably connected with said return chamber and communicating therewith.

3. An evaporator comprising an inclined steam chest having upper and lower fixed flue sheets, a plurality of inclined up-takc tubes arranged within the steam chest and having their upper and lower ends rigidly secured in said upper and lower flue sheets, an upper exhaust chamber provided on its upper part with a vapor outlet adapted to be connected with an exhausting device, a return chamber rigidly connected with the lower flue sheet, an inclined down-take pipe arranged below the steam chest and rigidly connected at its upper end with the bottom of said exhaust chamber and slidably connected with said return chamber, and an inclined bafiie arranged Within said exhaust chamber and operating to separate the Vapors and liquid issuing from the upper ends of said rip-take tubes and directing the vapors to the dome in the upper part of the exhaust chamber and directing the liquid 10 t0 the upper end of said down-take pipe.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

HENRY D. MILES. 

